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On New Year's Night- the US House voted 257 to 167 to approve the Senate passed "Affordable Taxpayer Relief Act" that will keep income tax rates from rising for returns from individuals with earned income less than $400,000- or $450,000 for a couple. It makes permanent the so called "Bush Tax Cuts" for those under this threshold- and apparently also offers a permanent solution to the Estate Tax- setting the exemptions at the level seen the past two years (5 and 10 Million Dollars), indexing them for inflation but raising the tax rate on estates over those levels from 35% to 40%.


The Chairman of the House Ag Committee, Frank Lucas, Third District Congressman from Oklahoma, voted in favor of the measure- he was one of 85 Republicans that joined 173 Democrats to pass the measure. Lucas told Farm Director Ron Hays right after the vote that "I voted in favor of lowering taxes, I voted in favor of extending the 2008 Farm Bill for an additional year." He called the extension of the 2008 farm law through the end of September very good news for the farm community. "In the environment we are working in- it is absolutely a miracle that we got it done."  Click here to hear our conversation with Congressman Lucas as he called from the US Capitol right after the House vote on Tuesday night.  

The Farm Bill extension will extend the farm safety net for another crop year (2013) and will extend the Dairy program- minus the reforms that had been proposed by both the Senate Farm Bill and the one passed by the House Ag Committee in 2012. It does fund programs like FMD and MAP that are used by groups promoting US farm products overseas- in fact, it basically continues all aspects of the 2008 Farm Law that were in place September 30, 2012 til that date here in 2013.   

Almost immediately after the vote on the House floor- we got reaction from Chuck Connor of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives- calling the extension of the Farm Law "deeply flawed."  His beef is over the dairy provisions- click here to read his statement.  Our friend Keith Good of FarmPolicy.Com has summarized some of the angst over the dairy provisions very well in his Wednesday morning update- click here to review what Keith has pulled together overnight. 

I suspect we will have lots more reaction from farm groups today- with the holiday now past us- we will be sharing that with you tomorrow morning.  

USFRA Contends Americans Believe Food Production Heading in Right Direction 

The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) recently released findings of a survey conducted about Americans' perceptions on food production. The survey, conducted to share with consumer media prior to The Food Dialogues: New York, revealed Americans increasingly believe food production is heading in the right direction.

However, the survey also found Americans still have widespread misperceptions about how today's food is grown and raised.

Americans overall (84 percent) believe that farmers and ranchers in America are committed to improving how food is grown and raised. Half of Americans (50 percent) think farmers and ranchers are missing from the media conversation around food these days.

Click here to read full details on the survey's findings.

OSU's Derrell Peel contends Feedlot Efficiency Doesn't Equate to Beef Industry Efficiency

In his latest article in the Cow-Calf Newsletter, Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, suggests that an "apples to apples" comparison shows using grain to grow beef is not nearly as inefficient as once thought.

Increased demand for corn has increased corn prices which causes changes in both supply and demand to restore corn market balance. On the one hand, high corn prices stimulate increased corn supply by bidding more resources into corn production. This leads to many impacts in other crop markets, such as higher prices for all major crops. At the same time, high corn prices reallocate corn among various users with higher prices moving some corn away from previous users and into the new demand. In short, high corn prices encourage corn users to reduce use and the beef industry is no exception.

It is often noted that beef is the least efficient user of grain among livestock industries. Indeed, cattle finishing requires five to six pounds of grain per pound of meat produced compared to less than three pounds for pork and less than two pounds for broiler production. However, this is only during the finishing phase and does not consider the amount of grain relative to the total weight of the animal.  

You can read more of Derrell's analysis by clicking here. 

Department of Energy Moves Forward on Clean Line Transmission Project

The U.S. Department of Energy is moving forward with the Plains and Eastern Clean Line Transmission Project. The department has published a notice of its intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for the approximately 700-mile overhead high voltage direct current transmission line project which will stretch from the Oklahoma Panhandle to western Tennessee. The highline will have the capacity to deliver approximately 3,500 megawatts primarily from renewable energy generation facilities in the Oklahoma Panhandle region to load-serving entities in the Mid- South and the Southeast via an interconnection with the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Prior to making a determination whether to participate in the proposed Clean Line Transmission project, DOE must fully evaluate the proposed project, in consultation with the Southwestern Power Administration, including reviewing the potential environmental impacts pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act.

Clean Line first identified several potential route corridors within a broad study area and subsequently refined the corridors using input from federal and state agencies, municipalities, non-governmental organizations, and thousands of stakeholders. Clean Line recently held 20 open house meetings in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee with over 600 participants in attendance to seek additional input on potential routes.  Maps identifying the potential routes currently proposed for analysis are available on the EIS website.

Click here for more on this story and a link to maps of the proposed powerline routes.

Know Thy Soil- Get SoilWeb App For Your Smartphone

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) launched the Web Soil Survey website in 2005. The site allows online users to access soil survey information for a particular piece of land instead of having to refer to the traditional county-level soil survey books. The disadvantage of the WSS is that user access is limited to use on a personal computer. Due to this limitation, NRCS and the University of California-Davis Soil Resource Lab recently developed an app for iPhone and Android smartphones called "SoilWeb."

One unique feature of the SoilWeb app is that it retrieves graphical summaries of soil types associated with the user's geographic location through smartphone GPS capabilities. By following instructions on the app, farmers and ranchers can quickly obtain information about soil types and properties to help make management decisions while still in the field. Each summary shows the soil name and horizon, or layer. By clicking on the soil horizon, the app will load the Official Series Description (OSD), a narrative of commonly used soil properties such as horizon depths, colors, texture and rock fragments. Clicking on the soil name provides the user with a more detailed description, including physical and chemical properties, definitions, and links to other databases including plants, ecological information system, etc.

Click here for more on this story and to find a link to the original article about the WSS website written by Dr. Corey Moffet from the Noble Foundation.

Computer Modeling Shows Importance of Early-Season Weed Control In Tackling Resistance Challenges

With glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth (pigweed) rapidly spreading north and glyphosate-resistant waterhemp wreaking havoc on many acres across the Midwest, retailers and growers alike are looking for weed-management solutions.

Herbicide-resistant weeds have long been a headache for growers; and over the years, university and Syngenta scientists have pooled resources to crack the resistance code, using specially designed modeling software that can examine hundreds of management scenarios to reveal each scenario's impact on resistance evolution.

"Unlike most research, which is done on a reactive basis, the computer model enables us to get a clear understanding of what factors contribute to resistance and what behaviors help mitigate resistance before the problem explodes," said Paul Neve, Ph.D., weed scientist at the University of Warwick in England and the model's primary developer.

Results from the model have reaffirmed that diversifying modes of action, herbicide-tolerant traits and crop rotation all play important roles in mitigating the evolution of glyphosate resistance. In the case of Palmer amaranth, preventing the weed from setting seed early in the season has been the most important factor. 

You can read more of this article by clicking here.

December Not Kind to Winter Wheat and Canola as Drought Intensifies- Did Monday's Rain Help?

The condition of small grains and canola across Oklahoma continued to deteriorate under the protracted drought, according to the Oklahoma Crop Weather report issued Monday by USDA-NASS Oklahoma Field Office. Seventy percent of rye, 65 percent of canola and 61 percent of wheat were rated poor to very poor at the end of December.

Pasture and range conditions continue to be awful across the state- rated at 82% poor to very poor.  

To read more and to get a link for the full report- click here.  

Meanwhile- we did get some rainfall across Oklahoma on Monday- some east central Oklahoma locations got an inch of rainfall- however, the wheat belt's rainfall totals could be counted in tenths of an inch or less. Dr. Jeff Edwards wrote on New Year's Day about the rain and our 2013 wheat crop- "The rainfall might be enough to help emerged wheat west of I-35 survive, but that is about it. Soil moisture is still insufficient to produce a recovery and I would still proceed cautiously regarding inputs on these acres. The rain might have indeed been too little, too late for these acres. IF soil moisture gets recharged by mid February and IF we have a mild spring these acres could have some secondary tillering and make a moderate recovery; however, the odds are against this." Click here for his comments about wheat that has not yet germinated and a chance to see the rainfall map from the tail end of 2012.